Wednesday, February 27, 2013

There has been a grab bag of activity in my life this last
week.I got a glimpse of ‘the other
side’ last night in a scribe clinic.I
have always envisioned the life of a judge as very exotic.They travel all over the world, viewing some
of the most amazing horses and riders.They get to sit in the mysterious covered booths and as a vague outlined
form render judgment and insight into our performance.Every show I rush to the window to pick up my
test form and read their comments.We
have all had a few laughs at their humor and a few awakenings at their
insight.So I decided to get a peek
behind the curtain and train to sit beside the judges’ seat.Perhaps this would be a way to see inside the
covered booth.Well three and a half
hours spent learning abbreviations for terms on tests and ‘judging’ lost its
aura.This is detailed work.This is hard, work.After hours of training level test practice
from videos I was ready to pull a harry-carry.How do they do it?How do they
stay so cheerful, helpful, and calm?How
can they still love dressage?I have
gained a new respect and understanding of the hardships of judging after
that.I did hone my skills however, and
I hope to get to volunteer soon to sit in the co-pilot seat.

I got my freestyle
mapped out; all on my own.No one has
even seen it on paper. I will spend this week practicing the moves so when
Jeremy gets back from New Zealand he can check it out.Sjapoer already loves the music.Some of you may remember how he was doing
some piaffe at the end of the victory laps at NAJYRC last year.He seems to want to ‘boogie’ as my mom calls
it.Did you ever wonder what type of
dancer your horse would be?When I saw
an episode of ‘so you think you can dance’ I tried to imagine Sjapoer.Would he be modern contemporary?Would he be ballet?I think with his attitude he is a waltzer all
the way, but only because there is not some type of blues dancing.

I found some notes
from the Robert Dover lessons at EDAP.I
thought that I would share them now even though it has been over a month since
Florida.Some are the simple dressage realities that
we ‘know’ in our minds but sometimes forget.First, breathe!Breathing is
key.Relax.Also remember that there are 3 natural
driving aids; two legs and one seat.But
that in dressage 80% of the control is from the seat and only 20% from the hand
and leg. Half halts are the calling of a horse through balance and attention.You should never go more than 2-4 strides
without a half-halt.

Finally, I am counting the days until my two
upcoming trips.I am off to L.A. in two
weeks and then to visit Genay the week after.I am so excited.I miss her so
much and can’t wait to see her facility.What is it about horse girls that we dream about seeing barns, tack and
developing horses!I am sure we will
learn a lot and enjoy the clinic with Jan but I am really looking forward to
the giggles until wee hours and Genay’s sense of humor! I can’t wait to meet her
boy.And like most dressage queens that
means the horse not the boyfriend! ;D

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Well what an
amazing week.My first Valentine’s Date
EVER!So I am going to take a moment in
this week’s blog to tell you what a great time I had.Billy arrived early! He was really excited to
head into Seattle; but he should know a teenage girl is never ready 45 minutes
early!But the beautiful roses he
brought for me and the chocolate roses for grandma were lovely. We went for
chowder at Pike’s Place Market and a Ferris wheel ride over the water.I bought a bag of his favorite taffies and
then unwrapped them all, put in little sayings about things I like about him
and then wrapped them back up.I think
girls love the ‘homemade’ gifts the best.

.Jeremy is off
giving a clinic in California with my friend Genay Vaughn.Hope you guys are having fun, but I miss
you!I can’t wait to see her in March
for the Jan Ebehling Clinic at Starr Vaughn Industries place in Elk Grove.Brandi cut off her hair to donate.I am so proud of her.It is
going to be a busy few weeks.I have
lessons with Jeremy all week then my dad flies in for a visit.We are going snowboarding.I promise I will be safe and stay off the
blacks.J

I learned a lot
about training tips this week from Shauntel.First, you don’t have to do the extensions in Canter always on the long
side.Your horse will always expect them
on the longside and may start to incorporate them in himself on every long side
canter!Like anything else, mix it up
and do some on the short side.Never let
things be consistent that way or they memorize and start to anticipate.You want them on your aides, not trying to
outguess you.

One way to check
this connection is in the transitions.Do a bunch of canter-walk transitions.Then make as if to do one, by shortening the stride go into more
collection but do not do the transition—go directly back to canter.Make sure your horse does.If not the test worked and you learned he
wasn’t on the aid, just anticipating the transition.

We worked a bit
on Tempes and Sjapoer has great flying changes.Last year at FOC and NAJYRC he got a lot of 8’s on these and racked up
points.We have been working on making
them even better by working to keep him straight.When you move from changes to tempes there is
a tendency to want to bend the head toward the lead.Keep his head and your body straight.It improves the quality of the change.Finally, with the tempes, Sjapoer likes to do
them a lot.He throws in extras all the
time.When he gets strong and isn’t
listening I relax on that diagonal and don’t push it if it is wrong.Circle back to the corner and do it correct
the next time.Give yourself the long
side to regain his concentration.(Obviously
this is for training not in a test!)

Well it was a
memorable week; I hope everyone shares their valentine’s stories.Next week is a crazy busy week.I got a new 180 degree mounted camera for
Christmas and I put it to some use taping my lessons. It’s a great learning opportunity
to tape one of your daily lessons and see where you are at in your training.

Friday, February 8, 2013

So this week has been focus on freestyle week.I have been scouring music and think I have
my choices narrowed down.I can’t let
you guys in on the secret yet.I don’t
want to take away from the uniqueness!I
am rather proud of going out on the limb though.I really have fun listening to all new sorts
of music doing freestyle research.

Jeremy was back
in town for lessons. One tip I got was
to never just ‘cruise’ around for two laps without changing anything in the
horse’s body.Be productive.Show that you are making the horse work.Do not just do the movement to show that you
can do it. Be smart about using a previous movement to move into the next one.For example, use a motion with bend like a
volte left to prepare for a half-pass left.

So once you have
music selected and your program mapped out; it is time to ride it till you have
it down perfect.Then get out the video
camera (no duck face) and video tap the ride from beginning to end.You need to then calculate the exact amount
of time you need for each section of music.For example do you have 1.02 minutes of trot and then 87 seconds of walk
etc.?Once you have the entire time
sequence it is time to splice your music.This is when it helps to have musician friends.This year over spring break I am heading out
to Hollywood to my mom’s music producer friend. He has a home studio and will
splice the music together.If you don’t
have a friend who has the equipment there are services online that will put the
music together for you, and also programs you can purchase to do it
yourself.Once you have it completed
make sure you have digital copies on flash drives and LOTS of burned
discs.Use a different disc for each
show.You never know when you get a
scratch.

One hint I have
learned through Sjapoer’s big bolts in the freestyle at NAJYRC last year.Always know your music well enough so you
know how much time you have if there is an error.If you mess up on your tempes, or the bolt puts
you three quarters of the way down the diagonal and you are only supposed to be
a quarter you have to be flexible enough to correct it on the fly.Have some ideas in mind of what you could
throw in if you have an error.Last year
when we got rather quickly across the arena I knew to get back on the trot
music timing (which was now about ¼ of a minute away) I threw in a volte.This can not only get your music back on
timing but also be used to recover from a bolt and get your horse back in the
mindset and prepared for the next movement.

Finally, a
non-freestyle tip I got today I had to share before I forgot.When working passage you cannot have the
horse’s head too low because when his head is low it means he has to use his
back In the movement.Your horse has to
find the rhythm to get the passage. Putting their head down makes them take
their legs up more and get more bouncy.

Hope this helps!I
can’t wait to see everyone’s freestyles and have you get a look at mine!First show in May!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

So it is that time
of the show season where thoughts turn to freestyles.Like most riders this gives me a moment of
smiles and a sick feeling in my stomach.We all love freestyles.In fact,
for the non-initiated they are often the only thing we can get non-dressage
people to watch and appreciate.So this
is our chance to hook them in.This is a
chance to divert from the standard test and show a little personality.

I like to think
of my freestyle as a way to show people a bit more not only of me, but of
Sjapoer.I want them to know him how I
see him.The finished test product is
the end of hard work.The finished test
is only a glimpse into his attitude.You
can tell a horse has power, agility and grace in a standard test but you don’t
know if he is innately outgoing, or curious, or a bit of a joker.Freestyles are a chance to bring people into
the music, the tempo of your understanding of him.

I think one of
the major ways to communicate your knowledge of your horse’s personality is
through music choice.Last year in
Juniors I used a mix of Blues Brother’s tunes in the freestyle.I did this because I wanted people to know
that Sjapoer has a big sauciness in him.He has the soul of a blues musician.He is sensitive yet full of deep emotion.I wanted to portray that sassiness in the
music.I also wanted people to see him
as unique, like the music choice.Finally, I wanted a powerful music that fit is powerful motion.

So how do you go
about selecting music?First, you have
to time the beats.I take a video of the
movements I am going to be riding.I
redo it every year.DO NOT assume the
beats don’t change.As your horse gets
more collected the timing will be different!As I watch back the video I pick one leg and count each time that one
leg hits the ground in each gait (walk, trot, and canter). Once you have the count you get to start the
long search for music.Just because you
like a song or a type of music, it doesn’t mean it will fit your horses gait
count.I suggest going to your tv
instead of itunes.I know this might
sound weird but on the tv there are all these ‘radio’ channels that have types
of music you will NEVER listen to normally.They have classical, blues, jazz, modern, rock and dozens of other types
of channels.Listen for a few songs and
expose yourself to some new stuff.As
you listen close your eyes and ask yourself if the music reminds you of your
horse or feels like riding him.If not
move on to the next new style; last year I found at least 20 new ‘old’ songs
that I now love.I discovered Etta
James, Keb Mo and a bunch of great musicians.Once you select a style it is just a matter of hours of listening to
music to find something that fits the style and the gaits.

I have got my
music selections ready for my lesson Wednesday with Jeremy.You should always get your selections
‘approved’ before moving on to the next step…just in case!So next week I will have to let you know how
it went and what he said.We can go from
there to laying out the patterns for the show.I’ll let you know if he gives me any new hints.

About Me

I am dedicated to a life in the Dressage World. I train with the USEF Developing Young Horse Coach Christine Traurig. I have been riding for 15 years and my ultimate dream is to have my own training and breeding facility with the goal of being in the Olympics.